self-interest in their dealings, and make use of tricks, frauds, and lies. They are poor, and consequently proud; and, to name many vices in one, they are ungrateful. The Chinese occupied all these islands when they subjugated all that orient, then the Javanese and Malays, and lastly the Persians and Arabs. These last, by means of commerce, introduced the superstitions of Mahomet among the worship of their gods (of whom some families boasted as ancestors). Their laws are barbarous. They set no limit to their marriages. The chief wife of the king, called _putriz_ in their language, determines nobility and the right to the succession--to which her children are preferred, even when they are younger than the children of other mothers. Not even the slightest theft is pardoned, but adultery is easily excused. At daybreak, those appointed for this duty sound (by law) large timbrels in the streets of the settlements, in order to awaken married people, whom, on account of human propagation, they judge worthy of political care. The majority of crimes are punished by death. In other things they obey the tyranny or will of the conqueror. The headdress of the men consists of colored Turkish turbans, with many feathers in them. That of the king, which corresponds to a crown, has the form of a miter in its peak. The remainder of the clothing universally consists of jackets which they call _cheninas_, and trousers of blue, crimson, green, or violet damask. Of the same material are their cloaks, which are short and military, and fastened diagonally or knotted on the shoulder, after the fashion of the ancient Roman garments, as known to us by the writings, statues, and other traces of those times. The women show off their hair, now letting it hang, and again knotting it upon the head, and placing various kinds of flowers in the bands that hold it; so that, in the adjustment of their headdress, they are not embarrassed by veils, plumage, or feathers. All that variety, even without art, adorns them. They wear bracelets, earrings, and necklaces of diamonds and rubies, and long strings of pearls--ornaments that are not prohibited to the common people; as neither are silks, which are especially worn by the women after the fashion of Persians and Turks. These are all the wealth of the seas and surrounding lands. Men and women betoken in their dress the natural haughtiness of their disposition. The variety of their languages is not little. It may happen that one village cannot understand the language of the next. Malay, being most easy to pronounce, is most common. From the variety of languages it is inferred that these islands have been populated by different nations. Antiquity, and the art of navigating in those districts, is ascribed to the Chinese. Others affirm that the Malucos are descended from the Javanese, who, attracted by the sweetness of the odors wafted by the spices, stopped at Maluco. They took a cargo of cloves, which